Squad 7
by Samurai Bebop
Summary: "You are not alone."
1. Chapter 1

**Squad 7 - A "Valkyria Chronicles" fanfiction.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyria Chronicles, or anything valuable for that matter. Everything is owned by SEGA. Please support the official release.**

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An expendable, unreliable squad from the Gallian militia had set up camp in a small forest. Inside one of the many tents was a young man named Ted Ustinov. Some found him funny, others...not so much. He was kept up by the snoring of his best friend Melville, the chirpng of what seemed like millions of crickets, and the small fear of being ambushed in his sleep. This was understandable, but not very likely. Squad 7's mission has been basically clean-up duty, so the chances of an imperial ambush was next to nothing. Ted wasn't exactly the brightest bulb on the chandelier.

A few days ago, the forest had already been cleared of imperial troops by the highly skilled, and most efficient main army. The only soldiers that remained of the Empire here were either limping, or running away from their inevitable death. Easy pickings, even for the militia.

Nina angrily threw her pillow at Melville, who remained asleep. It seems that Ted wasn't the only one awake as he heard a giggle from a boy named Alex. Ted was introduced to these two just a few hours ago by Melville, and he quickly grew fond of his new friends. Nina was a strong-willed woman with a noteworthy body, and Alex was a carefree goofball that had a fetish for getting high.

An eye-patched man whispered something to Alex, and he nodded in agreement. He turned on a ragnite lamp atop a supply crate, to a country girl's annoyance. "Hey bird-brain! I'm trying to get some sleep here! A girl's gotta get her like, beauty sleep or something!" she whispered angrily.

"As if you were going to fall asleep any time soon. Melville's keeping the entire tent awake." Alex took off his blanket and walked over to Ted, who had been keeping his eyes half open to see what the others were doing. "Ted," Alex whispered. "You awake?"

Ted sighed. "Man, we're all going to be so grumpy in the morning. I'm not going to be up for any food puns during breakfast..." he said disappointingly.

"Don't worry, I think running around naked and singing 'Kumbaya' has made up for it," Alex said. "Listen, a buddy of mine just made an interesting suggestion." Alex pointed his thumb at Vyse. "He's found a way for us to get a little bit o' payback, and to finally getting some shut-eye."

Ted turned to Vyse. "So what're ya thinking?"

"I'm thinkin' the five of us lift his whole bunk outta the tent and into the great, beautiful outdoors," Vyse said with a grin. He rubbed his knuckles into Hector's skull to wake him up. "Wake up you silly sleepy head, wake up!" he said cheerfully to a baggy-eyed Hector.

Ted turned his head to Alex with sparkling eyes. "Sounds fun. Let's do it."

"Well, that was a little quick. Aren't there any hesitations on doing this to your best friend?"

"Hey, all's fair in love and war." Ted left his bed and stepped into the dirt. Many leaves and chips of wood were scattered about that pricked his feet when he stepped on them. Ted, Nina, Vyse, Alex, and a reluctant Hector lifted up Melville's bunk on the count of three. Ted and Alex barely did any part in lifting the bed, but were too embarrassed to say anything about it. They started moving towards the open entrance of the tent.

"Where should we put it?" Vyse asked.

"How about in the lake," Nina said grumpily.

There was almost no difference in temperature as the marching quartet left the tent. The thin walls failed to do anything other than provide some sense of security to the troopers it housed. It was very cold, and being out of uniform wasn't helping either. Although they were shivering, they would rather be cold then be in their rather uncomfortable uniforms. A girl named Ramona put it best; they were dirty, sweaty, heavy, and unfashionable. When out of uniform, all they had on were plain white t-shirts, short-shorts, and undergarments.

While inching their way past the other tents, they came face-to-face with a still awake Isara Gunther. She yawned casually before opening her eyes to discover the five men lifting the sleeping Melville atop a bunk. The five had a look of fear in their eyes, thinking she may report this to the commander, but she ignored it and walked away to do her business, which Ted thought was to presumably to take a leak.

A wolf inched curiously towards them as they went a bit deeper into the forest. "Think this is far enough?" Vyse asked getting tired in the arms. "Not that I'm losing my grip," he lied through his teeth.

"Don't be lazy Vyse, it's barely been two minutes," Nina said, not losing any fatigue. She's been working out since high school, and over the course of her rigorous daily workouts she has built up an inhuman endurance. Something like this was a simple walk in the park for someone like her. "Tell you what, how about I give you a little bit of training? It could help you impress your goggle-head friend."

"Rodriguez is enough for me thank you very much," Vyse said, remembering the exhausting drills he and many others went through a few days ago.

"Speaking of Aika, I was surprised she wasn't in our tent," Hector said. "You'd think she'd want to stay with the guy she's always been travelling with. Especially one she's known since childhood." The mysterious duo of Vyse and Aika enlisted into a cause that most foreigners wouldn't care for. Hector was somewhat intrigued by the eccentric duo and quickly befriended them, eventually being told a little bit about their past.

"Some girl named Dallas invited Aika to her tent," Vyse said. "Guess she wanted to meet some new people to talk to."

"Awww, you sound a little discouraged there Vyse. A little heartbroken she chose someone else over you?" Ted teased with a smile on his face.

"Pffft. Like I care about that tomboy," Vyse said jokingly. He raised his voice quite a bit, so Nina gave him a quick 'shh' to remind him that not everyone was unlucky enough to have Melville in their tent. "Sorry, sorry," he whispered. Wanting to change the subject as soon as possible, Vyse remembered the strange stitches he saw underneath Alex's hair earlier in the day. "By the way Alex, what's with the the stitches?" Vyse asked.

"Oh these?" Alex said putting his hand on the back of his head. Nina raised her eyebrow at him, realizing how him letting go of the bunk didn't seem to effect the carrying weight. Alex pretended not to see Nina eyeing at him suspiciously. "A few years back when I was a bit younger, I was climbing a tree as usual. A branch ended up breaking and I fell off the tree and landed on my head."

"Some 'bird' you are," Nina said.

"Bird?" Vyse said.

"You don't know about Alex's nickname?" Ted asked Vyse. "Everyone around here calls him 'Bird' 'cause of his weird fascination with the sky. I'll bet if he realized being a sniper would give you the privilege to climb those huge sniper towers, he wouldn't have even chosen to be a shocktrooper."

"I hear a rumour that darcsen we saw earlier is trying to find some means of flight. That childhood dream of yours to go up there into the clouds may not be so impossible after all, Alex!" Nina joked.

"Do you really think there's something up there?" Hector asked.

Alex took a look at the dark skies. When he was young, he was told stories by his grandfather about a world sitting among the skies. The white clouds above them were illuminated wondrously by the bright moon. "...There's something up there," Alex said. "I just know it."

Vyse stared at Alex intently. Out of nowhere, a handmade arrow flew past them, and a loud cry was heard from behind. Frightened, the five dropped the mattress, which oddly didn't waken the sleeping Melville. "What the heck was that!?" Alex cried.

Hector ran over to the dead wolf lying motionless on the ground. He was a bit saddened by the pointlessness of it's death. In respect to the creature, he grabbed hold of it's head and pulled the arrow out from the neck. He then shut it's eyes, and decided he'd give it a proper burial later that night.

Ted turned to where the arrow had come from and saw a woman appear from the shadows of the trees. "I apologize if I startled you," she said. Everyone turned to see the wolf's executor. She held a large makeshift bow in her right hand, and wore a green backpack with a few arrows tied to it. Like the others, she had a white t-shirt and shorts on, so they all figured she was just another soldier.

"Howdy there," Vyse said friendlily, giving her a quick wave. "I'm surprised to see someone else up so late. What'cha up to this time of night?"

"A hobby," she said bluntly. Before he could ask anything else, she immediately turned around. "I'll be leaving now."

"Hold it!" Nina called out. The lady stopped walking back into the dark forest. "I don't remember you. What's your name, and the codewords the commander decided on three days ago?" she asked. Nina wasn't taking any chances. It was a possibility that the woman was an imperial spy.

Everyone realized this could be the case, and they all raised their guard against the possible intruder. Hector, still crouching next to the wolf, inched his hand closer to his pocket while Vyse smiled excitedly. Alex took a quick, last look at the sky before slowly inching his way closer in-between the mystery woman and the others. Ted seemed to be the only one that was naive enough to think she was one of their own, and was also quite dumbfounded by her attractive appearance. Everything seemed to stand still for a moment, until the woman finally broke the heavy silence.

"Marina Wulfstan," she said. "Remember Bruhl."

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**A/N: Thanks for reading! I****f we happen to meet someday, let's have lunch!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Squad 7 - A "Valkyria Chronicles" fanfiction.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyria Chronicles, or anything valuable for that matter. Everything is owned by SEGA. Please support the official release.**

******A/N: Chapter 1 has been completely changed because the writer is a hack fraud. If this change isn't to your tastes, then I apologize. But I will still be doing the exact same thing I've been doing from the start, and that's putting focus on the soldiers of Squad 7. Special thanks to Oatmeal for their cute little grammar comics! ****As always, thanks for reading my schlock! Hopefully this time I won't have any three month coffee breaks!**

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Hector sighed in relief that the stranger was a comrade and not an imperial. He put his arms underneath the deceased wolf and picked it up. "Nina. I think we've moved Melville's bunk far enough. Let's go back to the tents and get some sleep. We've got a long day tommorow."

"C'mon boys, we're getting outta here," Nina said. Alex and a somewhat disappointed Vyse followed her back to the tents.

Marina came closer and picked up the arrow that had pierced the wolf's neck. "I didn't think anyone would keep a gun in their pockets while playing a practical joke on a friend," she said.

"So you noticed." He was impressed with her keen eyesight in the night. "I keep one around just in case." Even if he valued life, Hector believed he had to do what was necessary to protect the ones he cared about. He learned this the hard way during his time as the head of a town watch.

Marina put the arrow behind her back in a stash and went deeper into the forest, searching for new prey. Unlike the others, she didn't seem to be affected by the cold, and having the tree branches scrape her body didn't bother her a bit. After the long months of training and traveling with her father, all these were a minor inconvenience. Her keen eyesight allowed her to penetrate the darkness, and in the distance she saw the pivotal prize. The black bear. It stood on it's hind legs, trying to climb a tree. Marina inched her way forward, making sure she didn't step on any branches. She knew even a little noise could scare it off. She crouched to get under a few branches in the way, and took out an arrow behind her back and nocked it. "Distance 200 feet, this should be close enough."

A loud crackle from behind Marina alerted the bear to her presence. It stared at her for a couple seconds before running off. Irritated, Marina turned around and pointed her bow at the person that messed up her hunt. "Wait! Don't shoot!" he said flailing his arms about.

"Who're you?"

The boy covered his face and family jewels. "Ted Ustinov! I come in peace!" he said nearly forgetting the codewords. "Oh right, and remember Bruhl and such." He nervously adjusted his hand so his eyes could see Marina. She recognized him as one of the pranksters from earlier and lowered her bow.

"Why are you here?"

He put his hands back to a more normal position. "I was just a little curious about you is all," he said blushing with a goofy smile. "I didn't remember seeing you earlier in the day, which is strange 'cause I usually remember every face I meet. Especially the cute ones," he said shamelessly. "Just kidding, just kidding."

Marina didn't care at all about what he thought about her face, and wanted him to go away.

"Go away."

Ted's smile turned upside down as she walked off. He followed after her with wishful thinking. "I was wondering if I could get to know you a little better!" Ted was the kind of guy that liked to know everyone, but was a little quick to judge people. He thinks every person that isn't always apart of the group is lonely, and tries to help them regardless of what they really want.

"I'm not one for socializing," she said without turning back to look at him. One reason she was out here was because the girls in her tent liked to talk a lot, so she left the overage slumber party and decided to catch up on her hunting. The second reason was because she had a bad case of insomnia, but she didn't seem to mind. She approached the ground where the black bear originally stood, and scanned the ground for any foot tracks left from it.

"So how about that commander, eh? He really likes plants, I wonder if he has a garden," Ted said, trying to make some conversation.

Marina glared at Ted, but he didn't seem intimidated. The glow of the moon illuminated Marina, and he was in the ecstasy of the moment. "If you're not talking about hunting, then leave. I have no interest in anything else," she said coldly. He took the hint and started walking away. He'd given up for just five seconds before darting on back.

"Please teach me about hunting!" he said putting his hands together pleadingly. He wasn't giving up that easy.

She was about to say no, but her father always believed in learning through teaching, and wanted his daughter to do the same. Marina reluctantly agreed to teach the boy. "Well for starters, it'd be nice if you lowered your voice," she said. Ted smiled cheerfully as she took off her backpack. "The first thing I'll teach you is how to craft a bow," she said while opening it up. "Go find a stick. Typically one that's flexible and about the size of a baseball bat."

Ted looked around and scavenged from a huge selection of sticks lying on the ground. He continuously bent stick after stick trying to find what he thought had the best curve possible. He eventually came to a decision and returned to Marina. She passed him a knife. "Shave the stick's ends on one side. Make sure both edges are equal in thickness and length when you're through," she said. Ted started to skim the bottom, while Marina continued giving him advice. "You want the middle to be thicker than the top and bottom, but don't overdo it."

Ted was happy she was talking more, and found her voice to be quite soothing. Once finished, he showed off his stick to Marina. She wasn't impressed, or at least, he didn't think she was impressed. Her facial expressions wasn't exactly the easiest to figure out. She took the bow and knife away from him and cut a notch at the top side of the stick.

"Now do the bottom side," she said. He did the best he could to imitate Marina's notch while she brought out some string from her backpack. "You're going to want the string to be about three-fourths the size of the bow," she said. He cut the string, and was smart enough to know he was going to be tying it to the notches. "Looks like you're all set," Marina said, and took one of her arrows from her stash and gave it to Ted.

"Try to hit the first tree to your right," she said. Ted nocked the arrow on the string and pulled back, closing his left eye to aim. "Keep calm, and stay focused. While aiming you should try to keep still." Marina noticed he was getting the hang of it quickly, and had a surprisingly nice, proper figure for a beginner. After taking a second to steady himself, he released his fingers from the arrow. The string launched it into the air.

"...Your other right. And I said the first one, not the third. And you missed it."

Ted blushed in embarrassment. "Hey c'mon, gimme a break! There's like a hundred trees out here," he said friskily scratching his humongous hair.

"I suggest working on your aim," Marina said. "Look on the ground. What do you see?"

He looked down, and couldn't see much. He leaned in a little closer, and realized what she meant. "Dirt," he said. "Lots and lots of dirt." To his surprise, she grabbed his hand and made it touch where he could faintly see a footprint. "Oh!" he exclaimed.

"This will be your first hunt, the black bear of the Kloden Wildwood," she said. "A black bear isn't something a novice usually tries hunting for their first time, so I won't be surprised if you fail. It's going to be quite the challenge. Are you sure about this?"

Ted, seeing a chance to impress his cute mentor, was quick to say he was ready for the challenge. "Let's do it," he said, and started following the bear tracks. The two of them continued walking until the footprints came to a sudden end because of a grassy field. "Great, now what?" he asked Marina.

"Look closely for any bent grass, or traces of fur."

It was very dark, so he couldn't find anything while looking around. However, he heard splashing, and decided to go investigate. Up ahead in the distance, he saw a shimmering light. The moon reflected off a small lake flowing into a river, and a bear was bathing in a small body of water. Marina followed Ted. They saw the bear catch a fish into its mouth and dance happily in the shallow water. Before Ted could say anything loud and stupid, Marina put her finger to her lips to remind him to stay quiet. They crouched and moved closer to the animal, and hid behind a tree once he thought they were close enough.

"Man, the suspense is unbearable," he whispered. "Get it, unbearable? Like a bear?" Marina grimaced while Ted raised his bow.

He was a bit more fidgety this time around, this being his first time killing something. Marina knew if he kept going like this, all that effort he put into tonight would have gone to waste. She grabbed hold of his arms and helped him aim, then whispered something into his ear. Ted aimed at the bears head, and pulled the arrow back.

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The two of them watched the sun slowly rise from east. Ted smiled brighter than he ever had in a long time, hopeful of things to come.

It was the dawn of a new day. Marina and Ted walked side-by-side back to camp, while Ted looked at Marina one last time.

"...You don't smile often, do you?"


End file.
